Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Back from phuket
This is my 1st trip with my labmates, Aram, Nazanin and Sam. We went phuket by taking an 8am flight(tigerairways). It was really early and i was sleepy during the trip. At the arrival of phuket airport, we negotiated the prices of 3 days of package tour and so our trip was settled. Happily, we make our way to Som Guesthouse with a cab. There, we walk around the minimarts and the streets near our hostel before proceeding to the Iranian restaurant. I had chicken kebah which is really filling (around 250baht); same as sam since we cant take beef. Aram and Nazanin had beef kebah. After satifying our stomach, we proceed to the patong beach to have a bit of swimming. However, it was disappointing because the weather is cloudy. we had coconut juice after the swim. Being the lazy one like me and nazanin, we just lie on the beach chairs and enjoy the seabreeze. Aram and Sam went for jogging at the sandy beach. After that, we proceed back to our hostel to do washing up and ask the owner of the hostel for some recommendation. Since the owner was a korean, we have aram to help us talk to the owner for some good food around our area and so we had seafood; fish, prawns, pineapple fried rice, morning glory and fruit shake. Afterwhich, we walked along the bangla street to see the night life of phuket and had thai massage (medium). It was a full body massage but i dont like the over-stretching part because my bones are not flexible!
Day 2:
Breakfast from minimart at 7am; i like the jumbo=cheesy suasage. we went to phi phi island for snorkelling. Can U imagine a 4 hours trip back and forth in a cruise???? The weather was really bad and some people just puked onto the floor because of the turbulence. Poor workers, they have to keep wiping the floor... Nazanin puked continuously on our way back in cruise to phuket. We had some "authentic" thai dishes like tom yam, green curry, padi and mixed vegie. Sam had the chocolate banana pancake. the seller was really skilful with his knife. Imagine slicing thin pieces of bananas at fast speed. After that Sam and me had foot massage while aram had a strong thai massage and nazanin had her hair braided (her hair would nv be messy again).
Day 3:
Breakfast from minimart. Adventure; fish spa (i am not daring enough because it was too itchy due to big fishes), elephant trekking, water rafting, flying fox, elephant and monkey show and ATV. I was afraid of the elephants because i feel the seat is nt stable and was holding to the seat very tightly. It feels strange to step on the poor elephant. Nazanin was very funny. She was too afraid and keep saying no no no. so, she had to sit with sam while I was seated with Aram. There was once when i felt something was touching me at the back. I think it was the elephant nose from the elephant behind us. Mind you, I did not wear a yellow shirt. I was wearing a black shirt. I definitely dont look like a banana! The water rafting was really fun! 5km is not enough!Some are just insane as they paddle quickly and keep splashing water towards others. Flying fox was fun too as we climb up the slope and wait for our turn to "fly" down. Nazanin said she wanted to go 1st and sam said he doesnt want to feed the mosquitoes anymore so he want to be the second. But i didnt want to go third because aram was feeling cold (due to u know wat) plus it was drizzling so i volunteered to be the last. When it was nazanin's turn, she wanted to go back and dunwant to "fly" down. She keep saying nono. After much persuasion; like flying down is the express route rather than climbing down! During sam's turn, drizzle becomes rainning and unfortunately during my turn, it was raining with wind!!! It was really cold as there is no shelter and i felt lonely because there is no one else except the 2 station masters (i am the last person). Initially i screamed and u know wat they said out of the 4 of us, i scream the loudest. haha. Then there is the monkey and elephant shows. the monkeys are really fierce and they dont like to be touched. they would bite (i am serious). Finally we had ATV for 30mins. It was raining, very disappointing. I had fun though there are 3 indians who keep speeding and being very competitive although instructors tell us to stay in one lane. i was worried that i am not skilful because the rest have driven cars before. I did not know how to break completely when i was a the slope and u know what, i nearly died. My vehicle was accelerating down the slope and i could feel that the rest of the drivers were staring at me and wondering why i was overtaking them at high speed. LUCKILY, i did not bump into anyone or anything and i was safe! it was a miracle! i dont know how i manage to control the vehicle at the right time and position and make my way to the front....we were muddy, wet and sticky because of the wet weather. Although it was fun, the weather dampens our mood. Poor aram who had...., and she hurt her knee during water rafting. we were really worried abt her as she felt pain in her knees :( We had dinner at jocyelon ( a shopping mall) to try the steamboat. It was a nice restaurant with great services! The juice and food were great too! after dinner, sam has 2 scoops of icecream (rum and raisin & strawberry) and i had 1 scoop of green tea icecream from eto at the mall. i learnt sth, koreans like green tea products too :)
This is also the day when nazanin found her new love; rambutan.
Day 4;
Breakfast from minimart. kayaking at james bond island; The scenery is nice and we had fun visiting the caves and seeing bats and monkeys. we stopped at 3 islands before proceeding to the last stop where there is a nice beach, very fine sand and crystal clear water!!!! very few were wet from kayaking but i guess i have affinity with the water and the water just keep getting into the boat i am in; even the last station from long tailed boat to the last island. I couldnt go for swimming due to some reason. It was really an agony! we had seafood again for dinner and also we went to the shopping mall hoping to catch a movie but the price was the same as singapore so we decided not to.
Day 5;
last sad day. we had american breakfast (bacon, toasts, orange juice, coffee, omelette) near our hostel and had our lunch at the shopping mall. Shopping for souvenirs after eating appetizers (sticky rice with mango in coconut milk, fruit juice). We went bowling (2 games; gutter ball is my specialty. I am happy to learn about my bad habits when sam and aram corrected me) before having our late lunch at fuji jap restaurant while nazanin has pizza from italian restaurant. while waiting for our flight, we had our last icecreams at phuket. Aram and me get green tea blizzards. Sam had banana split blizzards while nazanin had banana split icecream. It is interesting that they flip our icecream inverted so that if there is liquid dripping, it would be free. wow.
Day 2:
Breakfast from minimart at 7am; i like the jumbo=cheesy suasage. we went to phi phi island for snorkelling. Can U imagine a 4 hours trip back and forth in a cruise???? The weather was really bad and some people just puked onto the floor because of the turbulence. Poor workers, they have to keep wiping the floor... Nazanin puked continuously on our way back in cruise to phuket. We had some "authentic" thai dishes like tom yam, green curry, padi and mixed vegie. Sam had the chocolate banana pancake. the seller was really skilful with his knife. Imagine slicing thin pieces of bananas at fast speed. After that Sam and me had foot massage while aram had a strong thai massage and nazanin had her hair braided (her hair would nv be messy again).
Day 3:
Breakfast from minimart. Adventure; fish spa (i am not daring enough because it was too itchy due to big fishes), elephant trekking, water rafting, flying fox, elephant and monkey show and ATV. I was afraid of the elephants because i feel the seat is nt stable and was holding to the seat very tightly. It feels strange to step on the poor elephant. Nazanin was very funny. She was too afraid and keep saying no no no. so, she had to sit with sam while I was seated with Aram. There was once when i felt something was touching me at the back. I think it was the elephant nose from the elephant behind us. Mind you, I did not wear a yellow shirt. I was wearing a black shirt. I definitely dont look like a banana! The water rafting was really fun! 5km is not enough!Some are just insane as they paddle quickly and keep splashing water towards others. Flying fox was fun too as we climb up the slope and wait for our turn to "fly" down. Nazanin said she wanted to go 1st and sam said he doesnt want to feed the mosquitoes anymore so he want to be the second. But i didnt want to go third because aram was feeling cold (due to u know wat) plus it was drizzling so i volunteered to be the last. When it was nazanin's turn, she wanted to go back and dunwant to "fly" down. She keep saying nono. After much persuasion; like flying down is the express route rather than climbing down! During sam's turn, drizzle becomes rainning and unfortunately during my turn, it was raining with wind!!! It was really cold as there is no shelter and i felt lonely because there is no one else except the 2 station masters (i am the last person). Initially i screamed and u know wat they said out of the 4 of us, i scream the loudest. haha. Then there is the monkey and elephant shows. the monkeys are really fierce and they dont like to be touched. they would bite (i am serious). Finally we had ATV for 30mins. It was raining, very disappointing. I had fun though there are 3 indians who keep speeding and being very competitive although instructors tell us to stay in one lane. i was worried that i am not skilful because the rest have driven cars before. I did not know how to break completely when i was a the slope and u know what, i nearly died. My vehicle was accelerating down the slope and i could feel that the rest of the drivers were staring at me and wondering why i was overtaking them at high speed. LUCKILY, i did not bump into anyone or anything and i was safe! it was a miracle! i dont know how i manage to control the vehicle at the right time and position and make my way to the front....we were muddy, wet and sticky because of the wet weather. Although it was fun, the weather dampens our mood. Poor aram who had...., and she hurt her knee during water rafting. we were really worried abt her as she felt pain in her knees :( We had dinner at jocyelon ( a shopping mall) to try the steamboat. It was a nice restaurant with great services! The juice and food were great too! after dinner, sam has 2 scoops of icecream (rum and raisin & strawberry) and i had 1 scoop of green tea icecream from eto at the mall. i learnt sth, koreans like green tea products too :)
This is also the day when nazanin found her new love; rambutan.
Day 4;
Breakfast from minimart. kayaking at james bond island; The scenery is nice and we had fun visiting the caves and seeing bats and monkeys. we stopped at 3 islands before proceeding to the last stop where there is a nice beach, very fine sand and crystal clear water!!!! very few were wet from kayaking but i guess i have affinity with the water and the water just keep getting into the boat i am in; even the last station from long tailed boat to the last island. I couldnt go for swimming due to some reason. It was really an agony! we had seafood again for dinner and also we went to the shopping mall hoping to catch a movie but the price was the same as singapore so we decided not to.
Day 5;
last sad day. we had american breakfast (bacon, toasts, orange juice, coffee, omelette) near our hostel and had our lunch at the shopping mall. Shopping for souvenirs after eating appetizers (sticky rice with mango in coconut milk, fruit juice). We went bowling (2 games; gutter ball is my specialty. I am happy to learn about my bad habits when sam and aram corrected me) before having our late lunch at fuji jap restaurant while nazanin has pizza from italian restaurant. while waiting for our flight, we had our last icecreams at phuket. Aram and me get green tea blizzards. Sam had banana split blizzards while nazanin had banana split icecream. It is interesting that they flip our icecream inverted so that if there is liquid dripping, it would be free. wow.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
overseas trip
1st, the choice was Bali, then krabi and now finalised to be Phuket. I wasnt really in the mood maybe because my project nv really progress; been stuck for 3 weeks.....hai..I have tried alterating this and that but no luck yet. Actually it was nazanin who suggested going to bali but no one take the initiative so in the end, the air tix offer is gone and then somehow, nazanin wanted to join sam and his friends to thailand but he advises not to because the activity is more "guys" style since both his friends are guys; includes cheap accomodation and not clean but cheap places which nazanin dont like so it was changed to phuket. After they did some comparison of prices they said 9th aug is the best and will come back on 13th aug. They told me the days so i was like oh. Then nazanin keep saying this time must book the tix and finally ystd we settled the tix for 4; Aram, Nazanin, Sam and me. Honestly, this is the 1st time I am going overseas with people from different nationalities. I hope it would be fun. Also, this is the 1st time i am spending so many days on a beach......
This brings me thinking. Research may be a tiring and non-result guaranteed work (doesnt mean more effort = more result, is more effort = more chance of a result). However, when I see sth working, I would be grinning and be really excited about it :) The other good thing is, you get to meet people from different nationalities and u get to travel! This is great because i used to be locked in my own shell ( own culture). Now, I am beginning to learn how to adapt and understand people of different culture. It really needs time and understanding and not forgetting skills. =D
This brings me thinking. Research may be a tiring and non-result guaranteed work (doesnt mean more effort = more result, is more effort = more chance of a result). However, when I see sth working, I would be grinning and be really excited about it :) The other good thing is, you get to meet people from different nationalities and u get to travel! This is great because i used to be locked in my own shell ( own culture). Now, I am beginning to learn how to adapt and understand people of different culture. It really needs time and understanding and not forgetting skills. =D
Transferable skill camp
It has been 2 weeks since the end of the transferable skill camp in PGP hall. I just want to write it to remember this once in a lifetime oppurtunity to mingle and interact with people from different culture and school. This camp is a unified phd camp b/w Imperial college, NUS and NTU. I thought majority of the people would come from NUS and NTU but i was wrong. Like in my group of 7 people, there are 3 from imperial college; france, poland, UK. This camp really make me realise the importance of communication and teamwork not through examples but through experiencing it. I admit that this is the 1st time i am in such close distance in contact with ang mor. I have never travelled to ang mor countries or talked much even with the NUS ang mor lecturers before. This is therefore, a good opportunity for me to know more about how western culture is and how their uni life is. Basically, they love to drink beer and really not conservative; they speak up during lectures. They are really open and not forgeting loud when they sing (they dont care about following the music and just sing whatever they want and that includes lyrics; a mess lol). If anyone wants to go to angmor country to work or study, have to know how to party and drink beer. I think this is important for anyone to be able to merge into the group.
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Cleared my modules
I am so happy that i have cleared all 6 modules (4 chemical engineering core, 1 bioengineering core, 1 bioengineering elective and 1 mini-group teaching module). I am satisfied with the results and have proven that nothing is impossible :)
Currently, I am busy with designing my project regarding using engineered Ecoli to kill S.Aureus (a pathogen). I hope that I can master synthetic biology technique over these few years and afterwhich i can combine synthetic chemistry (organic chemistry) with synthetic biology as a research field next time if i am still keen in research. There is a new postdoc who came in recently. She was a nus chemical engineering bachelor and studied her phd in university of queensland. She is a singaporean. I think it feels good to have a singaporean colleague in the lab. She specialises in synthetic biology and she is now only 28 and would be doing postdoc for 1 year. So, i bet she would be a lecturer in university after postdoc; a promising singaporean talent :)
I am glad that my labmates like the bread that I have made (which my siblings find it plain) and they ask me when I am making it again. I am glad that they have enjoyed it which makes me look forward to making it again.hehe.
Besides planning for my project, to make sure i dont feel out of place from lab, I volunteered my help to korean senior. Boss keep wanting me to do sth that has oxidative stress and she is the only one who is doing it. So perhaps, that's y Boss wants me to learn from her. She has a complicated personality that I find it hard to comprehend. Perhaps we have different personalities. Sometimes, she feels moody all of a sudden and got once last week, she said that she minds my presence (she is working on her expt) and tell me to go have my lunch. Sometimes, she suddenly feel happy and keep smiling and this includes giving me heart attack (You know, when I am thinking or focusing on my work, a sudden sneeze or a tap on my back would make my heart fall out) and she said she has accomplished her task when i responded that she has frightened me. I remembered she told me that she has a good friend cum lunch buddy and they like to be silent while walking to canteen because they would be thinking about their project and they understand each other's silence. But, she chats every time we meet in the bus. A really difficult friend to fathom but i guess that is what makes everyone unique. All friends cant be the same and that's how we learn things from friends.
Currently, I am busy with designing my project regarding using engineered Ecoli to kill S.Aureus (a pathogen). I hope that I can master synthetic biology technique over these few years and afterwhich i can combine synthetic chemistry (organic chemistry) with synthetic biology as a research field next time if i am still keen in research. There is a new postdoc who came in recently. She was a nus chemical engineering bachelor and studied her phd in university of queensland. She is a singaporean. I think it feels good to have a singaporean colleague in the lab. She specialises in synthetic biology and she is now only 28 and would be doing postdoc for 1 year. So, i bet she would be a lecturer in university after postdoc; a promising singaporean talent :)
I am glad that my labmates like the bread that I have made (which my siblings find it plain) and they ask me when I am making it again. I am glad that they have enjoyed it which makes me look forward to making it again.hehe.
Besides planning for my project, to make sure i dont feel out of place from lab, I volunteered my help to korean senior. Boss keep wanting me to do sth that has oxidative stress and she is the only one who is doing it. So perhaps, that's y Boss wants me to learn from her. She has a complicated personality that I find it hard to comprehend. Perhaps we have different personalities. Sometimes, she feels moody all of a sudden and got once last week, she said that she minds my presence (she is working on her expt) and tell me to go have my lunch. Sometimes, she suddenly feel happy and keep smiling and this includes giving me heart attack (You know, when I am thinking or focusing on my work, a sudden sneeze or a tap on my back would make my heart fall out) and she said she has accomplished her task when i responded that she has frightened me. I remembered she told me that she has a good friend cum lunch buddy and they like to be silent while walking to canteen because they would be thinking about their project and they understand each other's silence. But, she chats every time we meet in the bus. A really difficult friend to fathom but i guess that is what makes everyone unique. All friends cant be the same and that's how we learn things from friends.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Fate
I think life is an amazing yet profound thing. Life is full of mystery and sometimes it is beyond our control which could caught us off by surprise. Like in cny eve of eve (friday), I was walking around ntuc fairprice at jurong point with nazanin (my senior labmate). The NTUC was super crowded because there are a lot of residents in boonlay and a lot of foreigners too. It is hard to walk around. I guess when u are fated to see that person, u will see him/her amidst the crowd. God has arranged everything. I saw postdoc from my lab with his family. It is really unexpected because imagine u be in the same place and same time as your colleague and somemore it is so crowded (among so many people), u still bump into your colleague. I think it is really amazing. Yesterday, I bump into my korean senior from lab (Aram). Actually i didnt notice. I was having meal with my family at one of the fastfood near my house (bp plaza)as usual. But yesterday we chose mac and had our dinner there. We were staying a while longer (5-10mins) in mac after finishing our dinner because my bro wasnt feeling well so my mum suggested we sit for a while. Then someone stand up directly in front of me (2 tables away from my table)and she was shifting to another place while holding the icecream. I notice that she looks familiar and took a glance longer while she is shifting to a few tables to the left of the table she was occupying; I realise she is Aram and the other person is her korean friend. I think her friend realise I am looking at their direction or something else happened because Aram turned to my direction. We chatted a bit and i was wondering why she came here coz she stays in pioneer, she was here because her friend live in senja and somehow they decide to eat mac icecream. Actually i didnt notice when she came into mac because u know, people keep coming in and leaving mac and I couldnt possibly notice everyone (looking at my food and chatting with my family and the layout of the mac). I think it is too coincidental. My bro and I came back from ntu openhouse to our house at that timing, we decided to have mac, my bro wasnt feeling well so waited a while longer(which make me notice there is a person standing up in front of me after i finished my meal) , she was seated in front of me (2 tables away; I was seated facing the window). All these sequences and position (must be exact) has been arranged by god and make us bump into each other. Fate is really something that is profound. I guess being able to be working together in the same lab is a sign of the group of us from different background, being fated to meet. This is especially strong in this period, hence i am able to chance upon my labmates even when outside of the lab (no prearrangement or anything or talking abt our plans). I think this side of fate is really amazing. But I dont know whether this fate would be a temporary one because eventually, we would all return to our nation and this fate may be lost in due time.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Long time no post
sian, yesterday's expt failed again. I have failed the gene knockout expt since last xmas....zzzz.. 2 friends have advised me to go bugis pray so today i made my way to bugis temple and pray. In the temple, I was thinking what the fortune teller told me about my yin yuan and recently, just feeling strange. So i decided to ask how my yin yuan is going. haha i just draw qian once and it is the correct one liao (swift; i just ask yin yuan and poof, it was a siao4 bei1 for twice and so my mum was saying it must be very accurate :).Alas, the qian was about: "The virtuous man stands apart from villians: whose conduct will show their faults....you must look for a genuine friend, for no one except him can really help u....." 君子莫体小人为，事若差池各是非；琴鸣须用知音听，守常安静得依稀。 Somehow, it seems like my partner havent arrived yet? haha. But wat really bring me thinking is that genuine friend connecting to my yin yuan (advisor???) Wah, it is so profound. Alas, possibly that fortune teller that i went to is not that accurate afterall :) so i dont need to worry about anything unduly.
Anyway, I was thinking about buying a comfortable covered shoes to wear and i liked the traces shoes:) The price is steep to me coz i have never bought a near 70 bucks shoes before but luckily there is a 20% discount and so i have to paid around 50bucks. I keep consoling myself that it is worth it since i need a comfortable shoe to comfort myself. Anyway, the design isnot very nice but i am more of the practical side. I prefer comfortable shoes than nice looking shoes.
i am sleeping in the flat near ntu campus next week. I am not sure whether i am used to it but i know this will definitely benefitted me:)
Anyway, I was thinking about buying a comfortable covered shoes to wear and i liked the traces shoes:) The price is steep to me coz i have never bought a near 70 bucks shoes before but luckily there is a 20% discount and so i have to paid around 50bucks. I keep consoling myself that it is worth it since i need a comfortable shoe to comfort myself. Anyway, the design isnot very nice but i am more of the practical side. I prefer comfortable shoes than nice looking shoes.
i am sleeping in the flat near ntu campus next week. I am not sure whether i am used to it but i know this will definitely benefitted me:)
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